Latest Transfer Target Makes Conflicting Claims About Newcastle Move

Written by Dr. Ed Harrison

2:15pm Tuesday, June 20th, 2017

Commented 5 times

It seemed like a good move by Newcastle yesterday when we were strongly linked with Torino midfielder Afriyie Acquah, because he seems just the type of player Newcastle need in central midfield – a hard-working tough tacking player who gives 100% effort during games and can win the ball for us.

Acquah could also become a much better player under the guidance of Mr. Rafa Benitez, who can bring out the very best in players and he has already shown that clearly while being at the club for only a short 16 months.

But the player himself has now come out on his Twitter account and said that reports that he has claimed the deal to Newcastle is 90% done are completely false and that he is still 100% committed to Torino.

25 year-old Torino midfielder Afriyie AcquahOK.

The only problem is that with the tweet there is also video from GhanaWeb of the player talking about a move to the English Premier League and that move may be 90% complete.

But he didn’t mention Newcastle so maybe that’s an out for the player?

We are hoping the player is on the radar screen at Newcastle because we need another good central midfielder to fight it out with the impressive young Isaac Hayden in defensive midfield.

And with the news yesterday we are very interested in £9M rated Porto striker Vincent Aboubakar, and that we are also very close to signing Eibar’s French center-back Florian Lejeune – it seems that Rafa is determined when he says he will strengthen the spine of the Newcastle team for the Premier League next season.

5 comments so far

Yup, he’s 100%% committed to Torino, until his agent comes to some satisfactory arrangement in regards to commission, signing on fees etc. We can but wait for the photo of him sporting his new colours – hopefully ours.

I really like the look of Aboubakar. He seems (from my extensive knowledge of watching half a Youtube video) like a Ba/Martins hybrid which I think could be a brilliant thing. Striker-wise, I would be looking to bringing in Aboubakar and one other player with Daryl Murphy going.

I would definitely keep Mitrovic because despite the criticism of him, he was essential in certain matches last season alongside having a decent first season in the Premiership. It’s easy to forget that he’s only 22 and though you could turn around and say ‘Tammy Abraham scored so much more than Mitro and he’s 19 etc.’ there’s a number of factors that need to be considered. Mitro definitely needs to improve in a number of aspects to his game but why can’t we give him the opportunity to improve with us? He’s blatantly got the talent so why can’t we bring in some more experienced players such as Aboubakar and give Mitro the chance to develop and breakthrough. By taking the pressure of his shoulders, we could see a much better player.

Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what type of player should be brought in alongside Aboubakar but I’d suggest a player who knows what the Premier League is all about. I think we should look to do something similar to our Daryl Murphy move. It should be a player who wouldn’t necessarily make it into our first team but is experienced enough and good enough to make an impact when called upon. A Remy or Koné type player could be extremely valuable – By the way, these are just the first two that sprung to mind and I’m sure there are better options.

Armstrong and Heardman should be loaned out to Championship teams that are specifically suited to their style of play. If they don’t do brilliantly then I think we can draw a line under them.

Two things: 1. Technically he never said that he was 90% close to sealing a deal with Newcastle specifically 2. I don’t understand how he can 100% committed to Torino if he’s talking about leaving. Maybe he’s had his knuckles rapped for suggesting that he’s leaving and has to backtrack?

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I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in February 2017 and completed four months of chemotherapy in late July and will continue to have hormone treatment.

The cancer spread in the bones but it has been stabilized and has not spread further.

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